Introduce yourself to the community

Hi everyone - Sam here from the OpenRent Community.

You can use this thread to introduce yourself to other users.

With landlords and tenants from all walks of life, OpenRent has over 1m users, and is a great resource for knowledge of the UK’s lettings market.

Thanks for stopping by!

3 Likes

Hi Sam,

Thanks, looks good. I listed my first property on OpenRent yesterday, I have a few more so hopefully it’ll all go to plan!

Anything I should kno about at this stage or where can I go for more info?

Dave

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Hi Dave, welcome!

Fantastic stuff. The team will keep you up to date with any steps you need to take - for now just wait for the enquiries to roll in…

In the meantime, there’s loads of support material for landlords on our Help Centre: https://openrent.zendesk.com/hc/en-gb

Are you a professional landlord Dave? If so, you might enjoy our Property Investment board!

Hello Sam thank you.

I am becoming a landlord to invest for my pension.

I am sure I will be back asking for some tips when I buy my first property! Sarah

Welcome Sarah! Fantastic to have you.

Where are you looking to buy?

I would suggest writing a post on our Property Investment category. People love to share their investment tips…

Hi, I’m Alex and a landlord who has been using Open Rent for many years now to successfully rent my properties. In the past I’ve done all the tenancies and holding fees myself, but have begun using the Rent Now option. I’m finding it difficult to contact or speak directly to a member of staff about a few key issues. I’ve already rented one flat through Rent Now and want some more advice before I’m about to rent another of my flats through the same procedure. My first tenant used the “Rent Now” option and told me he paid Open Rent a £200 holding fee plus paying (a full months rent of) £650 as deposit. When checking my “Deposit Protection Scheme” it only shows the £650 protected deposit. Why has my tenant been charged this additional £180 after the £20 referencing was done and why wasn’t the £180 added to a balance of £470 to make up the £650 (1 months rent) Deposit? Many thanks in advance.

Hi Alex, thanks for your post!

We have just tried to give you a call, and sent an email over with a full breakdown of the payments made throughout the Rent Now process.

Your tenant paid a £200 holding deposit, which covered the referencing report costs (at £20 each) for the tenant and his guarantor. The remainder of this was credited to the final balance of the first month’s rent and the security deposit.

If anything in the email doesn’t make sense, please feel free to reply with your queries or give us a call back.

Hi Elinor,

Thank you so much for your quick response.
Please accept my apologies for my error as I was obviously given misinformation by my tenant.
I will send my tenant this information.
Kind regards
Alex McGinnes

Hi sam ,
Nomana here from ireland
I want to shared my personal experienced that i want to move in uk with my two youngest kids
As i am single mom
I had been in there for 3 weeks and stayed at cxn place i searched houses but no body wants to help me to give place to me stay, i will not apply benefits
I have my saving
When i get a place to settle in with my kids i can find a job easily in these circumstances how can i get in their system
I have deposit in my hand rent as well
Bank statement
Guarantior
But still they wont let me
I am so disappointed and worried because the schools are reopen soon
If u can help me please help me to get a safe place for my kids
Age 13
Age 4
Regards
Nomana

Hi,

I have been looking to rent a 3 bed house for me and my 3 beautiful daughters ages 3, 4 & 12. I am working, honest, reliable and before we bought I had rented for 16 years and never been late with any rental payment or bill, having previously been a landlord I understand the importance of being a good, reliable, communicative Tennant. I have excellent references and absolute love Marple so want to stay in Marple with my girl’s. There are so few properties in Marple that I have now been looking for about 6 months but not found anything suitable. If anyone is in Marple or Marple Bridge I would love to be considered as a tennant. Thanks for reading, much love Lydia x

Hi Ime a landlord who has a tenant in my property but the shorthold tenancy ran out some time ago, can I just leave things as they are and have a rolling tenancy in place as the rent has not changed etc.

Hey @swanseasharks - welcome to the OpenRent Community!

Yes, there’s no need to renew and sign onto another fixed term if you don’t want to.

It might be sensible to sign a new fixed term, however, since this gives both you and the tenants the security that the tenancy will continue to run at least to the agreed end-date.

In a periodic ‘rolling’ tenancy, the tenants could move out with just a month’s notice, which could lead to a void period if you can’t find replacements quickly enough.

If you’re a Rent Now landlord, then you can simple renew your contract through the OpenRent dashboard, for free!

Sam

Thanks Sam, very good advice.

Oh Sam, what is dashboard all about?

If you sign into OpenRent, then you can look at the ‘manage’ dropdown menu on the top of the home page.

You can then press ‘dashboard’. From here you can get an overview of all your OpenRent activity and tenancies.

Or just click here: https://www.openrent.co.uk/my-dashboard

Hi, I am the Belinda half of the user-name :slight_smile: We have just used OpenRent and have a tenant for our apartment within a few days (assuming she passes the referencing). She can move in as soon as the last tenancy finishes, so no void. Very pleased with the service so far!

1 Like

Hey Belinda (and Bob)!

That’s so great to hear. Wishing you a happy tenancy.

Could I ask how you were letting your apartment previously?

Sam

Hello. Unusually I am commenting as a tenant rather than as a landlord - although I have been a landlord in the distant past. I hope I have a balanced view of the relationship. I am a retired NHS psychiatric nurse and have rented in South-East Wales for the past six years - directly from my landlord (now my landlady) since her husband died earlier this year. I think she now finds it more difficult to manage their small number of rental properties and I do feel my situation is rather less secure than I had hoped for. Both her husband and her have been lovely people and I have actively tried not to give them any angst while I have been a single tenant. I might have to move at some time, not so far ,and now am practically thinking of my options. I want to live somewhere in Wales that has a lovely view from at least one window. Ideally
either by the sea, a lake or a river and with a 3 year lease (enforceable from both sides). It would be nice if Open Rent could provide a search facility for me. Best wishes, Roger.

Hi Roger, sorry for the delayed response! I think I was in the middle of a turkey coma at the time.

Well we can help you with the location, of course, but we don’t have a way to search properties by their vista. I like your thinking, however. Having a nice view every day can make your life so much better.

You can always use the Google Street View function on the property advert to see what the landscape around the property is? And look at the photos, too, of course!

Best of luck with your search for a new home,
Sam

Hi, my name is Heather. I’m new to this site. I’m currently renting in Yate Bristol. I’m looking to relocate to South Wales or sarrounding area South glos. Always rented from private landlords.
This site looks really good. I am not sure on how to go about this. I have used the search but it’s a little more complicated. I have dogs and need a sort of “out building” (probably not the right word). Rural is not a problem. Could you offer some advice.